College Basketball Roundup : Irish, Digger Bury a Few Demons, 70-54

David Rivers scored 24 points, and Ken Barlow added 18 to lead Notre Dame to a 70-54 victory over cold-shooting DePaul in a nationally televised game Saturday at Rosemont, Ill., ending a six-game Irish losing streak against the Blue Demons.

Reserve Joseph Price added 11 for the Irish (9-1), who had not won at DePaul since the 1976-77 season. It also marked the first time since that year that the Blue Demons (9-4) have lost two games at home in the same season. Notre Dame had not defeated DePaul since 1980, when the Irish beat the Blue Demons, 76-74, in a double-overtime game at South Bend, Ind.

The Irish took a 15-point lead, 48-33, with 14:24 left in the game after outscoring DePaul, 8-1, in a three-minute stretch early in the second half.

Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps said: "We thought we would have emotion on our side and we just knew it was time to stop losing to DePaul. Forget the margin of the game. We would have taken a one-point win."

Said DePaul Coach Joey Meyer: "They had good perimeter shooting, and Rivers was too much. We thought if we could hold them under 50% shooting, we would have a chance. We didn't."

Notre Dame shot 59% to only 38% for DePaul. The Irish also outrebounded the Blue Demons, 37-29.

St. John's 79, Georgetown 74--Walter Berry scored 26 points and had 10 rebounds at Madison Square Garden as the Redmen raised their record to 15-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big East.

"Walter is a perfect example of a guy who knows his time has come," Georgetown Coach John Thompson said. "He's the man now, and with his shot selection, it's very difficult to defend him."

St. John's led, 30-26, at halftime and led by 10 points four times in the second half in front of a crowd of 19,591.

Georgia Tech 68, Maryland 67--Mark Price hit a game-winning 20-footer with 24 seconds left at Atlanta as the Yellow Jackets, after squandering a 21-point lead in the first half, tied a school record with their 13th straight win.

Duke 74, North Carolina State 64--Mark Alarie scored 24 points and Johnny Dawkins added 17 at Durham, N.C., as the Blue Devils raised their record to 14-0 and 3-0, the best start in school history. Ernie Meyers had 16 points for the Wolfpack (9-5, 1-2).

Michigan 75, Purdue 71--The Wolverines (16-0, 4-0 in the Big Ten) scored six straight points after the Boilermakers (14-3, 3-1) closed to 63-61 with 2:32 left at Ann Arbor, Mich. It was the first loss in 10 games for Purdue, which was outrebounded, 41-26. Troy Lewis (P) 20; Roy Tarpley (M) 18.

Ohio State 79, Northwestern 77--Dennis Hopson scored 18 points, including a clutch jumper with 51 seconds left in overtime, as the Buckeyes (9-4, 3-1) survived a scare by the Wildcats (6-7, 0-3) at Evanston, Ill. Shon Morris (N) 20.

Kentucky 76, Alabama 52--Kenny Walker had 24 points for the Wildcats, who held high-scoring Tide forward Buck Johnson to 10 points at Lexington, Ky. Kentucky is 12-3 and 3-1 in the Southeastern Conference; Alabama 9-4 and 2-2.